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Traffic in Suez Canal resumes after stranded ship refloated
Shipping traffic through Egypt’s Suez Canal resumed on Monday after a giant container ship which had been blocking the busy waterway for almost a week was refloated, the canal authority said. The 400-metre (430-yard) long Ever Given became jammed diagonally across a southern section of the canal in high winds early last Tuesday, halting traffic on the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia. Live footage on a local television station showed the ship surrounded by tug boats moving slowly in the centre of the canal on Monday afternoon. The station, ExtraNews, said the ship was moving at a speed of 1.5 knots. “Admiral Osama Rabie, the Chairman of the Suez Canal Authority (SCA), announces the resumption of maritime traffic in the Suez Canal after the Authority successfully rescues and ...
Suez Canal Authority says stranded ship partially refloated
The stranded container ship that blocked the Suez Canal for nearly a week was almost fully re-floated on Monday and has restarted its engines, a shipping source with knowledge of the matter said, raising hopes the busy waterway will soon be reopened. The 400-metre (430-yard) long Ever Given has been straightened in the canal and will undergo initial inspections before being moved, two sources said. Video posted on social media appeared to show the ship’s stern had swung around, opening space in the canal. Other footage, which could not be immediately verified by Reuters, included cheering and ships’ horns sounding in celebration. Ship-tracking service VesselFinder has changed the ship’s status to under way on its website. The Ever Given became jammed diagonally across a southern section of...
Troops foil Boko Haram attack, rescue passengers in Borno
Nigerian troops have foiled an attack from Boko Haram and ISWAP and rescued passengers along the Maiduguri-Damaturu highway in the Auno axis of Borno State. Though the insurgents’ attack was repelled, a military intelligence officer disclosed that several passengers onboard commercial vehicles along a major road in Auno were rescued by troops, after the terrorists’ onslaught. Troops from 212 Battalion Garrison, Jakana, Goni Masari and Auno were quickly mobilised to the scene and escorted some of the passengers to Damaturu and Maiduguri. The intelligence source said: “The terrorists, who came in dozens, were all dressed in black, with militarized gun trucks. They also carried other lethal weapons. Some of them painted their faces with charcoal. “They daringly invaded the area with the inten...
Rights group urges lifting Ugandan social media ban
Amnesty International is calling for Ugandan officials to lift bans on social media imposed ahead of Thursday’s election. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni announced on Tuesday that the government had shut down social media. On Jan. 9, Facebook deleted dozens of pro-Ugandan government accounts, saying they were “fake.” Museveni characterized Facebook’s action as arrogant. “It is alarming that the Ugandan authorities have suspended social media networks including Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp and restricted people’s right to freedom of expression and access to information,” said Sarah Jackson, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes, in a press release. Amnesty International said the move was intended to silence journalists, election o...
New York judge’s son arrested over Capitol riot
The son of a New York judge was arrested on Tuesday for participating in last week’s violent rampage at the US Capitol building by supporters of President Donald Trump, prosecutors said. Aaron Mostofsky, 34, is the latest of several supporters of the president to be charged over Wednesday’s incursion which left lawmakers fearing for their lives. Mostofsky faces four charges, including theft of government property, unlawful entry to a restricted building and disorderly conduct, according to the charge sheet. Prosecutors allege that he stole a police riot shield and bulletproof police vest. They cite photographs of Mostofsky, including on his Instagram page, which show him inside the Capitol with the shield and vest. He was also wearing fur and carrying a stick. “I don’t think 75 million peo...
Republican senator: Donald Trump must ‘go away as soon as possible’
A second Republican senator in the United States has called on Donald Trump to step down after some of the president’s supporters overran the Capitol building in Washington, DC this week in a deadly riot. In an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press news programme on Sunday, Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey said Trump should resign for the good of the country. “I think the best way for our country is for the president to resign and go away as soon as possible,” he said. Toomey said president’s resignation is the “best path forward, the best way to get this person in the rear-view mirror for us”, but added that he did not believe Trump would step down before his term ends on January 20. He also said the president’s role encouraging the riot was an “impeachable offence”. Momentum has been buildi...
U.S. agents search Nashville blast site, seeking clues behind Christmas explosion
Police and federal agents were scouring the charred site of a Christmas Day explosion in Nashville on Saturday, trying to determine how and why a motor home blew up and injured three people in the heart of America’s country music capital. The fiery blast, heard from miles away, destroyed several vehicles, damaged more than 40 businesses and left a trail of glass shards around the area. The motor home, parked on a downtown street of Tennessee’s largest city, exploded at dawn on Friday moments after police responding to reports of gunfire noticed the recreational vehicle and heard an automated message emanating from it warning of a bomb. The means of detonation and whether anyone was inside the RV when it blew up were not immediately known, but investigators were examining what they believed...
Iran jails British-Iranian researcher for nine years for subversion – report
A court in Iran has handed a nine-year jail sentence to British-Iranian anthropologist Kameel Ahmady, after convicting him of conducting “subversive” research work, the semi-official news agency Tasnim said on Sunday. Ahmady was also fined 600,000 euros ($727,000) – the sum Iranian authorities said he received for his research from institutions accused of seeking to topple Iran’s Islamic government, Tasnim reported. There was no immediate official comment on the sentence, which was also reported by other Iranian news agencies and a human rights groups, as well as by Ahmady’s lawyer, who said that he would appeal. “Ahmady was accused of acquiring illicit property from his cooperation in implementing subversive institutions’ projects in the country,” Tasnim said. Ahmady, an ethnic Kurd who h...
Troops ambush Boko Haram terrorists, kill six in Borno
Terrorists operating around Shyadawe/Nagasino villages in Borno State, Northeast Nigeria have suffered a heavy casualty blow following an ambush staged against them by troops of 192 and 202 Battalions of Operation Fire Ball (OPFB). The Boko Haram and Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP) terrorists fell from bullet rain by soldiers, leaving dozens lifeless and many others fleeing in different directions with bullet wounds. Brig-Gen. Bernard Onyeuko disclosed that following intelligent on terrorist activities within Shyadawe/Nagasino axis, troops advanced to lay ambush on the criminals. General Bernard, said soldiers also recovered four AK-47 rifles, ammunition and gun trucks while clearing remnants of fleeing terrorists from Sambisa Forest. “The unrelenting troops engaged them with...
#EndSARS: CNN defends investigative report on Lekki shooting
Cable News Network, CNN, has reacted to the Federal Government’s stance that it should be sanctioned over its report on the October 20 shooting incident at the Lekki Toll Gate, saying it stands by its report. The post #EndSARS: CNN defends investigative report on Lekki shooting appeared first on TODAY. You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dating should be. It begins with giving you back power. Get to meet Beautiful people, chat and make money in the process. Earn rewards by chatting, sharing photos, blogging and help give users back their fair share of Internet revenue.
West urges Saudi Arabia to release women activists, prosecute Jamal Khashoggi’s killers
Agence France-Presse Dozens of Western countries on Tuesday voiced concern at Saudi Arabia’s continued detention of women activists and called for those behind the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi to be brought to justice. No less than a dozen prominent women’s rights activists were arrested in Saudi Arabia in 2018 as it lifted a ban on women driving cars, a step that many of the detainees had long campaigned for. The women were rounded up as part of a broader crackdown on dissent. Germany, speaking on behalf of the European Union at the United Nations Human Rights Council, brought up Saudi Arabia’s “prolonged detentions of women rights defenders,” including Loujain al-Hathloul. Several of the arrested women say they have suffered torture and sexual assault in detention, accusations w...
Nigerian National Assembly spends billions of naira on constitution review
The perennial constitution amendment exercise by the National Assembly is characterised by proposals that keep resurfacing despite gulping billions of naira yearly, an analysis has shown. The federal parliament had from the 5th to the current 9th National Assembly made several attempts to amend some provisions of the 1999 Constitution to no avail. At every session, the parliament officially spends N1 billion shared equally between the Senate and the House of Representatives. There are reports that the lawmakers spend more than what is appropriated for the exercise. While some amendments were successful, several others suffered serial failures but kept appearing in new proposals. Considering the huge spending, lawyers and civil society groups have pointed out that no significant amendments ...